Beyond The Aukoerebis

That’s not technically true, but here’s the first peek at our BEYOND AUKOEREBIS plan … The Marais and Van Kets clans will meet on the Namaqua West Coast on June 18^th, in the process ticking of their first arid paradise. A meandering trip up the coast from Koiingnaas will take them to Port Nolloth for a icy surf before they mission into Richtersveld Proper.

This SANparks national park rates as the oldest mountain desert on the planet, and for the next six days, the two families will set off in search of some of the exhilarating adventures on offer in Desert #2. Fly-fishing for giant yellows, scaling the remote Vandersterr Peak, SUPing the ‘Great River’, white-water kayaking, and billion-star MTB rides under the desert night sky are just a few of the activities lined up.

The Namib-Naukluft (Desert #3) is next on the cards as the BEYOND EXPEDITIONS team travels into Namibia for a few days. A quick trip to the Kolmanskop ghost town and quirky Luderitz Bay is on the itinerary, as is the Fish River Canyon, before the convoy rolls up to Mata-Mata and the vast Kgalagadi National Park.

This ‘Place of Great Thirst’ makes up part of the expansive Kalahari Basin, and will be our ‘4^th Desert. Our key destination is the incredible !Xaus Lodge, home to a large swathe of land belonging to the Khomani San people. At !Xaus, we will get to interact with these ancient hunter-gatherer people, tracking the dunescapes, finding medicinal plants, and camping wild on vast desert pans.

Desert #5 is Augrabies, again one of the SANparks Arid Parks’ premier destinations, also known as ‘Aukoerebis’ – or the ‘Place of Great Noise’ – in the Khoi language. One of our key adventures will take place here as we abseil into the granite gorge with FLUID Anvils, and descend the thundering white-water below South Africa’s biggest waterfall.

Both Kim Van Kets and Karyn Marais are adventurers in their own right, as well, and this adds a fantastic dimension to the BEYOND AUKOEREBIS Expedition. “The fact that they – and of course Beth, Hannah, Robert and Grace – will be able to share in this adventure, really is a dream come true for us”, say Van Kets and Marais.

BIGGEST CHALLENGE:

This was a much easier expedition, but managing many people is always a challenge.

FAVOURITE MOMENT:

Riding with all the offspring the edge of the Fish River Canyon

LESSONS LEARNT:

Adventure is an essential part of all our souls. That it’s not just the domain of ‘adventurers’.

Keep an eye on Peter’s YouTube Channel for when this expedition is to be uploaded

EXPEDITION INFORMATION:

This expedition was the third in a series of five Beyond Expeditions with Jacques Marais. The min concept of this expedition changed because of the lack of sponsorship. Beyond Aukoerebis became a “family adventure” to highlight the need for adventure in all our lives and that can be done as a family. The expedition took us to the Ais-Ais/Richtersveldt Transfrontier Park, Fish River Canyon, Luderitz, the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park and the Augrabies Falls National park.

Support Distance travvelled
5100km
Temperature
-1° - 35°C
Crew Transport
2 x Isuzu DBL Cab X-Raiders
...
Dunlop AT3G tyres
Mountain Bike
Giant Anthem 29er 2
Kayaks
Fluid
Countries
South Africa
...
Namibia

PARTICIPANTS:

Peter Van Kets
Jacques Marais
Photographer
Pete Kirk
Videographer

SUPPORT:

South African National Parks

SPONSORS:

Dunlop Tyres
South Africa
Isuzu
South Africa
FrontRunner
South Africa
Hi-Tec

“Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.”― Terry Pratchett, A Hat Full of Sky